


I'll Always be There

by jilloreilly



Category: In the Heights - Miranda (Broadway Cast) RPF, In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: Comfort, Cousins, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Family Issues, Flashbacks, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, In the Heights References, Protective Usnavi de la Vega, Protectiveness, Robbery, Sibling Bonding, Sonny needs a hug, Usnavi de la Vega Tries, Young Sonny, hurt sonny, sonny deserved better, sonny is precious, teen sonny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23046598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilloreilly/pseuds/jilloreilly
Summary: The bodega is broken in to while Sonny is watching it. Usnavi finds his 17-year-old cousin lying injured, alone, and downright terrified after being attacked by the robbers.Tons of family bonding. Usnavi is all at once Sonny's cousin, big brother, and the father figure the boy never had.Sonny is actually so sensitive and you can't convince me that's not canon.
Relationships: Sonny & Usnavi (In the Heights)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	I'll Always be There

**Author's Note:**

> This was just gonna be a little fic. Then, the feels took over. 
> 
> I've been listening to In the Heights on repeat lately and if Sonny isn't the best, smartest, most precious bean...gahhhhh I love him. I honestly felt like he was so overlooked throughout the show, so I had to make it right with this fic. 
> 
> Since these roles are played by multiple people, I let Navi and Sonny's ages be sorta fluid. In the flashback, Sonny is five and Usnavi is seventeen, and in the real-time part, Sonny is seventeen and Usnavi is twenty-nine. 
> 
> This is getting long, so please check the end for more notes!

When Usnavi De La Vega was seventeen years old, Sonny tried to ride a bike for the first time and fell almost instantly. From that point on, Usnavi decided he’d care for Sonny as long as they lived. 

Usnavi’s old friend, Francisco, had fixed training wheels on an old bike for Usnavi’s five-year-old cousin, Sonny De La Vega. They wanted something to entertain the little boy so that they could hang out without his pestering. Sonny’s eyes had lit up instantly when he saw the bike. Francisco and Usnavi exchanged a look. Finally, no little kid in tow. 

While they talked, cussing freely without having to care about Sonny’s presence, Usnavi couldn’t help keeping one eye on Sonny. He watched the little boy wobbled down the street, teetering unsteadily on his training wheels before forcing himself to focus on Francisco. They’d been waiting all afternoon to get rid of the little kid. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sonny turned the curb just a little too fast. With a sharp scream, Sonny was thrown from the bike, which wheeled out from underneath him. The little boy’s baseball cap flew off, dark mop of curls falling into his huge, puppy-dog eyes, as he hit the ground. He froze for a moment, before suddenly letting out a loud wail. Both knees were skinned, and his elbow was bleeding profusely. 

“NAVI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I!” Sonny curled up in a ball on the sidewalk, screwing his eyes shut and screaming. 

Usnavi was there in a flash, running blindly across the street, leaving Francisco behind. “Sonny! Holy shit, Sonny, hey!” Skidding to the ground, Usnavi reached towards his little cousin. “It’s okay.  _ está bien. Está bien. _ Let’s have a look.” 

Sonny burst into tears as Usnavi reached for him to examine his wounds. 

“NO! NO TOUCHING! Hurts! You can’t touch!” Sonny hollered, batting at Usnavi’s hands. 

“Sonny, you gotta let me- okay, okay, I’m not touching. I promise.” 

“Ow-w-w-w!” Sonny bawled. His small, round face was crumpled up, tears cascading down his chubby cheeks. “Navi, make it stop!” He screamed. 

Usnavi’s heart broke a little. Poor little thing. “Okay, okay, Sonny, let’s go inside, alright? We need to get you cleaned up.” 

Sonny tearfully reached out his arms towards his older cousin. “C-Carry me?”

“ _ Ay, sí, sí. _ ” Usnavi hardly noticed the blood staining his clothes at Sonny’s touch as he scooped the crying child into his arms, cradling him carefully. “ _ está bien. _ ” 

Francisco was still, crossing his arms and watching from the the other side of the street, watching the scene unfold. “Yo, Navi, does this mean we have to watch the kid again?” 

“I think you’d better just come back later.” Usnavi tried to slap his friend on the shoulder, but the crying, squirming little kid in his arms kept him occupied. “I gotta make sure he’s okay. I’ll see you later, okay?” 

“NAVI!” Sonny screeched, bringing the attention back to him. 

“Bye, Francisco! Sorry about this.” Usnavi cast one last apologetic look towards his friend, before kicking open the door and disappearing inside. 

_______

Sonny screamed to the heavens above as Usnavi cleaned out his cuts. He kicked and pulled away, sobbing hysterically, but his older cousin got the job done, holding him down as he struggled to clean out the scrapes and slap bandaids on. 

“There, see? Easy. No big thing.” Usnavi panted, finally getting to breathe for the first time since the little thing had launched himself into his arms. 

The ordeal had clearly worn Sonny out. Yawning and crying simply for the sake of being tired, Sonny reached out his arms to his cousin again. 

Usnavi shook his head with a chuckle. He scooped his little cousin up, letting Sonny lean on his shoulder, eyelids fluttering. 

Carrying him to his room, Usnavi was just about to put him down when Sonny muttered sleepily, “want to sleep with you.” 

“ _ Qué?”  _

“I want to sleep in the big bed.” 

Usnavi laughed out loud. The little brat really wanted the red carpet treatment. 

If that kid wasn’t so damn adorable… 

“Deal. But you gotta go to sleep, okay? You’ll feel better in the morning.” Usnavi hoisted little Sonny back up, swinging him into his own room and tucking him in. 

“Will you stay with me?” Sonny tugged Usnavi’s sleeve. “I sleep better when you sing.” 

Usnavi smiled. He’d gotten in the habit of singing an old lullaby his parents used to sing to him whenever Sonny wouldn’t go to sleep. “Of course,  _ cariño. _ Now close your eyes.”

Sonny was asleep by the first verse

  
  


******* 12 Years Later *******

  
  


“Oh my god.” 

Usnavi’s breath left his body as he stepped up to the front of the Bodega. 

The door was wide open. Broken glass covered the floor. Instantly, Usnavi knew what happened. Crime rates had been high lately, and the little corner shop was a prime target.

Heart pounding, Usnavi crept carefully inside. For all he knew, someone was still here. Perhaps raiding his apartment above, in the backroom, anywhere. 

Despite how carefully he stepped, a small  _ crunch  _ sounded from under his heel as his shoe found its way on a shard of glass on the floor.  _ Shit.  _

Holding completely still, Usnavi took a steadying breath, waiting, waiting. Nothing but still, silent darkness. 

No, whoever had come seemed to be gone, leaving Usnavi and Sonny’s little oasis as it always was. 

Wait.

Usnavi’s stomach clenched horribly. 

_ Sonny.  _

Where was Sonny? 

The seventeen-year-old boy was watching the store all evening. Where was he now? 

Without a second thought, Usnavi, instincts taking over, flipped on the lights and bounded inside, jumping over the shattered glass. “Sonny?!” No answer. Once again: “SONNY?!” 

Silence. 

“Oh God,” Usnavi whispered,  _ alright, breathe. Just breathe. He’s probably off somewhere with Graffiti Pete. Stupid kid’s no good for him. That’s it. That’s all it is.  _

“Sonny?! Sonny, answer me, please!” Usnavi ripped through the shelves, ducking behind the counter, finally bursting into the storage room. “Sonny, please!” He yelled, “SONNY!” 

Then, he heard it. 

A soft whimper coming from the corner of the storage room. 

“N-Navi?”

Usnavi froze. With a trembling hand, he flipped on the light switch. 

His heart stopped in his chest. 

Sonny lay in front of him, curled up, clutching his side. Blood seeped through his shirt and onto his hands. His lip was bleeding and clearly split, and his breath shuddered with what seemed to be  _ tears.  _

Was he  _ crying?  _ That wasn’t Sonny. 

“Oh my- Sonny? Sonny, hey, it’s me.” Usnavi slid to the ground.

“Navi!” Sonny choked out. The poor boy’s eyes were screwed shut, and his whole body was trembling. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. I’m right here.  _ Está bien. está bien. _ ”

_ Usnavi was there in a flash, running blindly across the street, leaving Francisco behind. “Sonny! Holy shit, Sonny, hey!” Skidding to the ground, Usnavi reached towards his little cousin. “It’s okay. está bien. está bien.” _

“Navi, I...I tried to move, I tried to f-f-fight...it hurt too much. It hurts!” Sonny winced, hugging his side tighter. 

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.  _ Bien, bien.  _ What...What happened?” Usnavi asked softly, examining his teenage cousin’s wounds. 

“There were...there were three of them. They came in, and...and...and they took the money and I wanted to fight back, I really did, but there were too...too many! They broke windows, destroyed...destroyed everything, and...and...and...they brought me back here and I tried to fight and one of them, he had a blade!” Sonny cried, holding up one hand, soaked in blood from his side wound. “They threw me back here and I couldn’t get up. I’m sorry, Navi, I’m so sorry!” 

“Shhhh, shhhh,  _ ay, cariño, está bien. _ ” Usnavi shushed him gently. His words were shuddering and gasping, strength draining by the minute. “How long have you been here?”

Sonny pushed his wild mop of dark, full curls from his eyes. Same as when he was young, Usnavi thought. He could never control those curls. “I think, ah...I don’t know! Half an hour? I really...I don’t know.”

“That’s okay.” Usnavi whispered, touching Sonny’s shoulder. “I really need to take a look at that cut, okay? Will you move your hands for me?” 

_ Sonny burst into tears as Usnavi reached for him to examine his wounds.  _

_ “NO! NO TOUCHING! Hurts! You can’t touch!” Sonny hollered, batting at Usnavi’s hands.  _

_ “Sonny, you gotta let me- okay, okay, I’m not touching. I promise.”  _

“AH!” Sonny winced sharply as Usnavi pried his hands away. He fought against his older cousin, trying to curl himself into a ball. All he wanted was to curl up, go to sleep, and for the love of God, make it  _ stop.  _

“I know.  _ Lo siento. _ ” Usnavi tore off his jacket, fitting it around Sonny’s waist. Cradling his upper-body gently, Usnavi lifted him just enough to wind the jacket around his back, tying it tightly as a makeshift tourniquet. As he pulled the knot closed, Sonny let out another gasp. “Easy, easy.” Usnavi muttered. “Anywhere else hurt? Besides your lip?” 

Sonny groaned softly. “Everything.” 

Usnavi bit his lip. They’d thrown him down, roughed him up...confident, tough Sonny. Usnavi wanted to kill those guys. 

“Let’s get you upstairs, okay? Can you stand?” 

Sonny shook his head, helplessness covering his round face. “I tried when they were still here...hurts too much.” 

“Alright, Sonny. Just relax, okay?” Usnavi braced himself for the seventeen-year-old to fight him, ever the tough guy, but to his surprise, Sonny merely whimpered softly at being moved as Usnavi rolled him gently into his arms, cradling him tightly and stumbling to his feet. Sonny was by no means heavy, but was nearly Usnavi’s height. Usnavi struggled awkwardly to make his way, one foot at a time, up the stairs to the apartment, balancing Sonny’s body carefully. 

_ Usnavi’s heart broke a little. Poor little thing. “Okay, okay, Sonny, let’s go inside, alright? We need to get you cleaned up.”  _

_ Sonny tearfully reached out his arms towards his older cousin. “C-Carry me?” _

_ “Ay, sí, sí.” Usnavi hardly noticed the blood staining his clothes at Sonny’s touch as he scooped the crying child into his arms, cradling him carefully. “Está bien.”  _

The boy’s hold on Usnavi was weak. Eyes half-closed, Sonny was mostly limp in his cousin’s arms. “Usnavi?” His soft voice wavered. 

“Yeah?”

“I’m...I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry? For what?”

Sonny wriggled a little, getting comfortable, before closing his eyes. “I couldn’t protect the store.”

“Wha- Sonny…” Sonny never cared much about the bodega, and if he did, he sure never showed it. “Hey, I’m not worried about the store right now. I’m worried about you.” 

Sonny groaned a little, eyes fluttering shut. He let out a slow breath, letting his head loll back. 

“Sonny? Sonny, hey, Sonny, open your eyes, okay?” Usnavi shook Sonny’s limp body. The young man’s eyes opened slowly, shaking his head. 

“Really...really tired.” He slurred. 

“I know. I know you are. But until I get you patched up, you can’t go to sleep, okay? You’re not allowed to bleed out on me. So open your eyes and...and  _ talk,  _ okay?”

“...About?” 

“Anything you want.” 

Sonny brushed his curls from his large eyes. “What I  _ want  _ is to sleep.” 

“And you can. Just not right now. Soon.” 

Sonny’s face was absolutely desolate. “I was going to...I was going to ditch the store for a while before they came.” 

“What?” 

“Lock up the store, go out, have fun…” Sonny groaned. “Then, they came.”

“Sonny…” 

“They were older than me, and...and bigger. I...I…” Sonny stuttered, avoiding Usnavi’s gaze.

“What?”

“I was scared.” Sonny whispered.

Usnavi’s heart ached. Wordlessly, he nudged the door to the bathroom open, setting Sonny on the lid of the toilet. “Alright,  _ cariño,  _ just relax.” Usnavi pulled a roll of bandages and an antibiotic ointment from the bathroom cabinet. Kneeling down beside Sonny, Usnavi carefully removed the jacket tied around his middle. 

“AH!” Sonny buckled forward, clutching his side and letting out a wail. 

“Hey, it’s okay!  _ Está bien! _ ” Usnavi caught him firmly, holding him upright while prying his trembling hands from his side. “This won’t hurt. I promise.” 

Trying his best to ignore Sonny’s winces, Usnavi carefully wiped away the blood covering the wound. The cool water on the towel seemed to soothe the boy a bit. 

“Hold up your shirt for me.” Usnavi guided Sonny’s hands to the edge of his shirt, lifting it a few inches to reveal the stab wound. 

Luckily, it didn’t seem particularly deep, but the cut ran from his side all the way down to his hip. Carefully, Usnavi lowered the edge of Sonny’s pants just enough to cover the wound all the way with a large bandage, gingerly pressing the adhesive down on Sonny’s hip, up to his side. 

Sonny winced at his cousin’s touch. His entire body hurt like absolute hell. 

_ Sonny screamed to the heavens above as Usnavi cleaned out his cuts. He kicked and pulled away, sobbing hysterically, but his older cousin got the job done, holding him down as he struggled to clean out the scrapes and slap bandaids on.  _

  
  


As soon as Sonny was patched up, bleeding under control, Usnavi let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He was now more aware of his young cousin’s discomfort—Sonny shifted around painfully, seemingly unable to get comfortable in a sitting position. 

“What else can I do,  _ chico _ ?” Usnavi steadied Sonny’s fidgeting with a hand on his knee. “What are you feeling?” 

Sonny averted Usnavi’s sympathetic gaze. He hated this. Everything about it. “I’m fine.” He said softly, forcing himself to calm down. The robbers had thrown him around  _ good _ —after the knife sliced him, they’d grabbed him, shoved him to the floor, kicking him to the corner, and left him to bleed. His ribs throbbed where that boot had connected with him, and his lip had swollen to twice its normal size. Besides that, poor Sonny had landed flat on the seat of his pants on the cold concrete. 

“You’re fine?” Usnavi raised his eyebrows. 

“Yup.” 

“I’m gonna go downstairs and get some ice for that lip. Stay put, okay?” 

“Whatever.” 

Usnavi smiled slightly, starting once again down the stairs. 

It hurt watching Sonny like this. 

He’d die if he knew that Usnavi knew, but Sonny, as tough as he acted, was one of the most sensitive people Usnavi had ever known. He had a good head on his shoulders and, though he’d never admit it, a heart the size of all of Washington Heights.  _ Poor thing,  _ Usnavi thought, wrapping a bag of frozen peas in a paper towel,  _ he must have been so scared. Outnumbered and all alone. _

Usnavi couldn’t bring himself to look around the bodega. The broken glass...the turned-over shelves...he knew deep down that there was nothing he could have done, nothing he’d done wrong, but God, if he wasn’t feeling like the worst cousin in the world right about now… 

The image of Sonny lying in that storeroom, blood drenching his shirt and pants, eyes closed, moaning softly for help, for  _ anybody _ , was seared into Usnavi’s brain. What if he hadn’t come when he did? Did Sonny know he’d come find him? Did he think he was alone? God, he’d just been  _ lying  _ there… 

No. 

The important thing was, Usnavi berated himself, was that he DID come when he did. He found Sonny and because of it, Sonny would be okay. 

But all thoughts flew from his mind the second he reached the top of the stairs again. 

A sob echoed through the hall. 

Usnavi took off, bursting into the bathroom. Sure enough, Sonny lay on the bathroom floor, crying steadily. Tears poured down his cheeks, dripping between his bloodstained fingers. His breath came in shuddering gasps, and his entire body shook with sobs. 

“Oh my God!” Usnavi dropped to his knees on the floor. “Sonny, Sonny, oh God, what...what happened? Look at me! What happened?!”

Sonny just shook his head, covering his face with his hands and turning away from Usnavi. 

“Sonny, talk to me, please! Sonny, c’mon! Are you hurt? What happened? Did you fall?” 

The young man shook his head, curls flopping madly around his face. 

“Damnit, Sonny, you’re scaring me!” Usnavi grabbed Sonny’s shoulders, turning him to meet his eyes. 

“F-Fine!” Sonny wailed, shaking Usnavi off. “I was about to leave, Usnavi! I was gonna mess around with Pete, and ditch this place…”

“I know, Sonny, you told me.” Usnavi’s voice dripped with confusion. 

“No, no, you don’t get it! I...I wanted to protect the store when they got here...I tried to fight, I tried to defend the store, b-but...it was only by chance that I was still there at all! I was going to abandon this place. I was going to leave it alone for those guys. And it didn’t even matter that I happened to stay. I couldn’t do anything. I wasn’t strong enough. Either way, no matter what I did, I couldn’t save the store. I didn’t do a damn thing right.” 

“Hey, I’m not mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” Usnavi settled next to Sonny, putting an arm around his shoulders. 

“I was there. I was right there and there was NOTHING I could do.” Sonny squirmed around under Usnavi’s hold. 

“Sonny,” Usnavi only tightened his grip, pulling his cousin a little closer. “Have I ever hesitated to kick your ass when you deserved it?”

A slight pout crossed Sonny’s face. “No, and sometimes when I don’t deserve it.”

“Debatable.” Usnavi chuckled a little. “Point is, I’m not gonna give you a lecture this time around. You know why?” Silence from Sonny. “Because,” Usnavi continued, “you did everything just right.”

“How?” Sonny brushed tears from his cheeks, sniffling loudly. “What did I do? The store’s still destroyed, the money’s still gone, and I’m still lying on the floor like an idiot.’ 

Usnavi pulled Sonny’s head down on his shoulder. “You're alive. You kept yourself alive. That's all I need to know. You must have been scared,  _ cariño,  _ I'm sorry I wasn't there. ” He said softly. 

Sonny’s face crumpled. Hiding his face from his cousin, he began to cry harder, curls sticking to his tear-stained face. Mutely, he nodded. If he had tried to say anything, it had come out only as a loud sob.

“I’m sorry...a-about...about the store.” Sonny said, taking a shuddering breath. “I’ll help you fix everything.” 

“Listen, I’m not worried about the store. I’m really sorry if I’ve made you feel like I think otherwise, but you’re more important than some objects. You think I care about some broken glass when you’re hurt? I don’t care about what happened down there. All I care about is that you’re safe.” Usnavi smoothed Sonny’s hair back from his forehead. 

Sonny nodded slowly. “ _ Gracias. _ ”

“Here. C’mon, put your head up. That’s it.” Usnavi grabbed the forgotten ice pack left on the floor. “Let’s get some ice on that lip of yours. It’s starting to look like a golf ball.” He held the pack to his cousin’s lip, holding it over the swollen bump. With his other hand, he grabbed a washcloth beside the sink. He dabbed the cloth, gently, soothingly, over Sonny’s face, drying the tears from his cheeks. “Thatsaway.” 

As much as Sonny would love for him to think otherwise, Usnavi knew that Sonny was a good kid. Hell, at only seventeen years old, he was becoming Washington Heights’ resident social advocate. And he cared about the bodega. Really, it was just about all he had. No parents, barely any family at all, watching the people he loved struggle in the depths of poverty…

As the two sat together on the bathroom floor, Usnavi with one hand pressing a bag of frozen peas to his cousin’s lip and the other wiping the tears from his cheeks, Sonny suddenly let out an enormous yawn, slumping back with a slight groan. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been so tired in my life.” He sighed. “Getting the crap beaten out of me is exhausting.”

“I bet.” Usnavi smiled. “You know, you’re all patched up now, the bleeding’s stopped, so you can go sleep. What do you say we get off this floor and get you into a bed?” 

Sonny nodded, letting Usnavi pull him to his feet. A stab of pain ripped through his side at the movement, and he nearly collapsed again. Trying to walk was even worse; the wound in his hip had left him with a limp that hurt just to put weight on. 

_ The ordeal had clearly worn Sonny out. Yawning and crying simply for the sake of being tired, Sonny reached out his arms to his cousin again.  _

_ Usnavi shook his head with a chuckle. He scooped his little cousin up, letting Sonny lean on his shoulder, eyelids fluttering.  _

Grimacing, Sonny fell against Usnavi, who half-dragged, half-carried him to his bedroom. Usnavi helped Sonny onto the bed, pulling back the covers and tucking them around him. 

“I’m seventeen, Navi.” Sonny slurred sleepily. “I don’t need you to tuck me in anymore.” 

“I know. Now shut up and stop moving. I can tell you’re hurting yourself.” Usnavi looked around. “Hey, how ‘bout I bring a blanket and pillow in here and sleep on the floor?” 

Sonny wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know why you would when you have an actual bed in your own room.” 

“So, you know,” Usnavi shrugged, “if you wake up in the middle of the night and need anything, like water, or a new bandage, ice...whatever, I’ll be right there and you won’t have to get up to come and get me.” 

Sonny shook his head. “You don’t need to. I’m okay, Navi. I promise. I can take care of myself.” 

“I know you can.” Usnavi raised his eyebrows, turning on the ‘older brother’ face perfectly. “But I’d feel better knowing you were sleeping through the night. And if you need to get out of bed, I can help you. You could barely stand up by yourself in the bathroom.” 

Sonny thought for a moment. Finally, he sighed, matching Usnavi with a ‘tough’ scowl as only a little brother could. “Fine. If you really want to, I guess.” 

Usnavi smiled. “I’ll be right back.” 

_ Carrying him to his room, Usnavi was just about to put him down when Sonny muttered sleepily, “want to sleep with you.”  _

_ “Que?”  _

_ “I want to sleep in the big bed.”  _

_ Usnavi laughed out loud. The little brat really wanted the red carpet treatment.  _

_ “Want to sleep with you, Navi.” _

_ If that kid wasn’t so damn adorable…  _

Sonny had to roll his eyes when Usnavi returned minutes later, arms stuffed with a pillow and blanket for himself, a glass of water for Sonny, bandages, and ointment. 

“Setting up the red cross?” Sonny asked innocently. 

“Precisely.” Usnavi cocked an eyebrow. 

Within minutes, Usnavi realized his little cousin had fallen fast asleep before he'd even turned the lights out. 

Careful not to wake him, Usnavi sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing Sonny's back gently. For a moment, he could see it so clearly; the days back when Sonny was just a toddler and scared to go to sleep without his mom and dad in this scary new country. Usnavi would have to sit up with him all night, rubbing his back or singing until the little boy fell asleep. He loved those nights--it made it easier for him to feel like he had a place and a purpose in America. 

_ “Will you stay with me?” Sonny tugged Usnavi’s sleeve. _

Sonny woke up once during the night after a nightmare starring the three robbers and the cold storeroom floor. He’d gasped and sat up like a bullet, and, before he could take another breath, Usnavi was there, wide awake, right by his side. “Hey, go back to sleep, Sonny, it’s okay. I’m here.” 

Sonny had no idea how Usnavi had woken up so quickly or known what he’d been dreaming, but he was glad he did. Nothing could have been more soothing than knowing his older cousin, who’d taken care of him for most of his life, was sitting next to him, protecting him, simply being there for him. 

_ “I sleep better when you sing.”  _

_ Usnavi smiled. He’d gotten in the habit of singing an old lullaby his parents used to sing to him whenever Sonny wouldn’t go to sleep. “Of course, cariño. Now close your eyes.”  _

_ Sonny was asleep by the first verse _

**Author's Note:**

> This may have been a bit rough; I'm not always the best proofreader haha
> 
> Anyway, if you liked this, I'm considering writing another Sonny story in which Graffiti Pete carries a passed-out Sonny home after being jumped and Usnavi has to come to terms with the fact that GP saved Sonny's life, and may not be so much of a punk after all.  
> No ships, just lots of friendship, comfort, and fawning over Sonny.  
> Would you read that fic? Let me know below! I'd love to know if it's worth the write. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
